More Remembrances of Carl Koenig

Earlier today, I captured just some of the thoughts and such of Carl Koenig. The Head junior varsity boys basketball coach of the Liberty Minutemen passed away at the age of 75 on Wednesday. In searching for people to comment on Coach K, I found no shortage of participants.

According to former Minutemen head coach, Derek Elmore, Coach K had contacted him about coaching at Liberty in 2002, but Elmore took another job and it never came to fruition. But, the next coach that came into Liberty did take Koenig in as an assistant. John Patterson coached the Minutemen from 2002-2005. Patterson told me that Koenig read about him in the Bedford Bulletin and met with him about the job. From there Koenig became a member of the Minutemen coaching staff. To prove what a small world we live in, Patterson and Koenig were both from the same town in Illinois; Springfield.

Two men who have had great success as varsity head coaches in the area, Mike Cartolaro and Dan Stephens, each had their own take on Koenig. Cartolaro said, "He loved working with the players and coaching. More importantly, he was good for the kids."

Stephens commented, "I never got the chance to know Carl well, but I know he was always quick with a smile and a handshake when we crossed paths. He was very unassuming, always introduced himself as if I wouldn't remember him from before. Carl was a throwback in all the right ways. He obviously believed in the coaching fraternity, something that's kind of been lost to some extent in recent years. He was a hard-worker. I often saw him out scouting when Liberty wasn't playing. Just seemed to be a guy that loved to coach and to help the kids he was given responsibility for. We'll miss him in our profession."

Coach Hamill Jones of St.Christopher, stopped by to share his thoughts on his coach and friend, Coach Carl Koenig.

"I first got to know Coach Koenig as a 6th grade middle school student at St. Christopher's here in Richmond. He might have noticed me because I was a big Duke fan and he liked UNC. He was my 7th grade history teacher and 8th grade basketball coach. By that time he had stepped down from coaching the Varsity team after twenty years. He loved the game of basketball, and he liked to see it played correctly. He taught me about the fundamentals of defense, he demanded maximum effort and he loved to fast break with our 8th grade team. When I went on to play basketball at Washington and Lee University, I remember thinking that some of the players on our college team didn't know the important parts of the game like help-side defense that Coach Koenig had taught me as an 8th grader.

A couple of stories stand out to me

First, we always knew that we should not mess around during one of Coach Koenig's practices. If we did, it would be time for a "Bulldog Shuffle", which is what he called the traditional "suicide" sprint. He wasn't afraid to make us run a lot of them.

During my 8th grade season with Coach Koenig, our team lost one game, to a team called Queens Lake Middle School out of Williamsburg. Their best players were Bryan Randall and Brandon Randall who went onto play quarterback at Virginia Tech and basketball at Hampden Sydney, respectively. We were down 1 (point) with about 5 seconds left and Queens Lake was at the free throw line. The shot went in, and we ran a sideline break off a free throw that Coach Koenig had drilled in us to perfection. However, I missed the shot that would have won the game. I remember feeling bad, because I really wanted Coach Koenig to have an undefeated season, and I remember he was more concerned about how I felt. That story will always serve as a reminder that Coach cared about me, and I cared about him.

He is one of the best people that I have ever known and I will miss him.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, flowers were to be placed on his seat tonight as well as other things (team room being named after him and all players wearing a patch with Coach Koenig's college number on it, 21.)

I am a believer in playing for a coach, playing for a cause and things like that. I wasn't able to attend tonight's game in Bedford between the Heritage Pioneers and the Liberty Minutemen, so I can't describe the atmosphere, but I can tell you I am sure Liberty had a 6th man on the court, on the bench and in the locker room with them at all times. I live in my grandparents old house and even though they are both gone, I feel that they are in my heart at all times. When you are in a house and a big influence and a steady presence, i.e. Coach Carl Koenig has always been a part of that house, they are always going to be in that house, so I believe Coach Koenig will always be with the Minutemen. Because memories never go leave you, and from everyone I have spoken with via e-mail, all the memories they have of Coach Koenig won't go away, they will live forever. The Minutemen won both, the junior varsity and varsity, contests on Thursday night.

I am sorry I never got to interview or talk at length to Coach Carl Koenig. The lesson that I take from this (if there is a lesson to be learned) is always greet as many people as you can. Be outgoing, shake hands (their is enough hand sanitizer in the world to where those of you who are germaphobic will be okay) and greet those around us. Because even though a lot of people knew Coach Carl Koenig and can tell us the great stories about him, there are many of us who unfortunately don't have those stories to share.

When I think of Liberty Basketball, you think of the great teams coached by Mark Hanks, and great players like Raymond "Peanut" Arrington, Robert Carson and many others. But I think you can add Carl Koenig to that list as a figure that will be remembered in the lore of Bedford basketball. RIP Coach Koenig, you will be missed.